***
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” Tessa asks for about the fifth time.
“I wish I were,” I say, pulling her in a for a long hug. “I’m so sorry about your childhood home.”
She shakes her head. “It’s okay. I’m fine, really. I feel bad for my parents, of course, but it’s just stuff. It can be replaced, right?”
“Excellent way to look at it. I thought you’d be more upset.”
She pulls back a bit and gives me a small smile. “I’m all right. Really. It’s just a bit of a shock. I should call them to see if they need anything.”
“Actually,” I say, holding one finger in the air, “no need to call them because they’ll be here in a couple of hours.”
Her eyes narrow in confusion. “Why would they come here? I’d think they’d be needing to—oh, shit. They’re moving in here, aren’t they?”
Giving her a game show host smile, I nod and say, “But only for about eight months, give or take.”
Tessa smacks her forehead with one palm. “Did they invite themselves here?”
“More like a strong hint that I could hardly refuse. But it’s not a big deal, really. I mean, we’ve literally got hundreds of bedrooms.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no.” The word spills from her mouth at record speed. “They can’t...what about Lars? Or Finn? Or...Noah? He’s got plenty of room.”
“Not as much as us, I’m afraid.”
“But they’ll bejust awful, Arthur. You have no idea. My mum is already driving me nuts from across town, with all the baby update texts and the ‘I never had morning sickness, I felt amazing during all of my pregnancies,’ not to mention the ‘who decides on the royal commemorative dishes’ and ‘can I help choose the cups that will have my grandchild on them?’” she says, pacing the room. “Once they’re here under the same roof, it’s going to be...intolerable.”
“We’ll make it work. And if they’re driving you crazy, I’ll...find a way to divert their attention. I could...send them on a trip for a few weeks, followed by...another trip somewhere else.”
“They’ll never go. They hate traveling.”
“Who hates traveling?”
“Evi and Ruben Sharpe, that’s who.” Tessa’s shoulders slump, and she gives me a pouty look (but not a sexy pout, more like a whiny child who has just been denied a toy at the store). “I don’t want them to live here. It’s going to be unbelievably embarrassing.”
“I know, but at least you and I will be in it together, right? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and all that?”
“I suppose.”
“I promise it’ll be all right, Tess. It’s just temporary, and who knows? It may just be so wonderful, you’ll never want them to leave.”
